Chapter Thirteen:
Families
Chapter Overview

Marriage and Family in
Global Perspective

Trends in U.S.
Families

Marriage and Family in
Theoretical Perspective

Divorce and
Remarriage

The Family Life Cycle


Diversity in U.S.
Families
Two Sides of
Family Life

The Future of
Marriage and
Family
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Marriage and Family
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Family Defined
Two or more people

That are related by blood, marriage, or adoption
or

Are part of a relationship that includes mutual rights and
obligations and is assumed to be permanent
Marriage and Family
3
 Nuclear Family – husband, wife, and their immediate
children
 Extended Family – nuclear family plus grandparents,
cousins and other relatives living in the same household
or nearby
 Family of Orientation – family a person grows up in
 Family of Procreation – family formed when a
couple has their first child
 Marriage – a group’s approved mating arrangements,
usually marked by a ritual or some sort (wedding) to
indicate the couple’s new public status.
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Marriage and Family
Courtship and Marriage Patterns

Mate Selection
 Informal Norms dictate who should marry who.

Exogamy


Norm requiring that mates be selected from outside one’s group or
category
Endogamy

Norm requiring that mates be selected from one’s own group or
category
Marriage and Family
Societies around the world trace descent in
various ways:
 Patrilineal – father’s side
 Matrilineal – mother’s side
 Bilineal – father’s and mother’s side
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Marriage and Family
Courtship and Marriage
Patterns

Monogamy

Marriage of one woman & one man


Serial monogamy
Polygamy

Marriage to multiple spouses

Polyandry and polygyny
Marriage and Family
Courtship and Marriage
Patterns

Functions of the Family






Defining and limiting sexual access
Reproducing new members and integrating them into
society
Socializing new members
Care of the young & the elderly
Providing emotional support
Providing ascribed statuses
Marriage and Family
 The family is universal because it fulfills certain
functions including: sexual control, socialization, care of
the sick and aged, recreation, economic production
 Talcott Parsons (1950) stated that men fulfill the
instrumental role and women fulfill the expressive role
in the family
 Dysfunctions include: incest, abuse, and divorce
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Marriage and Family
 The family is a reflection of the patriarchal society in
which many societies live
 Families are arenas of conflict where members
struggle for resources or power
 There are many dual earner families today but women
still pull the “second shift” (Hoschild) leaving many
women dissatisfied with their marriage
 7 ½ to 11 hours a week than what their husbands contribute.
 The balance between power in marriages has led to the
rising divorce rate
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Marriage and Family
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Marriage and Family
The Conflict Perspective

Strategies of resistance (Struggles over Household
chores)—Hochschild (1989)




Waiting it Out
Playing Dumb
Needs Reduction
Substitute Offerings
Marriage and Family
 Jesse Bernard – husbands and wives “see” their
marriages in different lights which causes a lot of
dissatisfaction
 Focus on “negotiating meanings” in marriage and
families
 Looks at the meaning of housework
 Looks at the definition of family, marriage, and
divorce has changed over the past 50 years
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Marriage and Family
Dating and Mating
Dating and Mate Selection

Courtship



Romantic love
Marriage squeeze
Propinquity
Homogamy


The selection of a mate with personal and social characteristics
similar to one’s own.
Heterogamy


The selection of a mate with social characteristics different than
one’s own
Marriage and Family
U.S. Families over the
Life Course


Cohabitation
Two people living
together without legal
marriage
Marriage and Family
U.S. Families over the Life Course

Singlehood


Postponing marriage
Widowhood and divorce
Marriage and Family
 Marital satisfaction tends to follow a U curve
 Marital satisfaction is at its highest points when
couples first get married and at the retirement stage
 Marital satisfaction decreases with the arrival of the
first child
 During the empty nest stage satisfaction increases
 42 % of children ages 24-29 are still living at home
today and are often referred to as “the boomerang
generation”
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Marriage and Family
Grandparents as Parents – more grandparents are
fulfilling the parental role as more parents are working
Sandwich Generation – families who are taking care of
their children and their parents at the same time; often
this responsibility is taken on by the daughter’s
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Marriage and Family
Marriage and Divorce
Marriage Rates
steady decline since
early 1970s
Divorce Rates
increased
dramatically in
last 60 years
Marriage and Family
 Divorce rates rose between 1950 and 1980 and since
then the numbers have leveled off
 Divorce has increased because of: changing norms,
less stigma, and governmental policies
 The effects of divorce on children are varied
 Serial Fatherhood – fathers who keep in contact with
their children for about a year after a divorce, get
remarried, and refocus their attention to the “new”
family
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Marriage and Family
Marriage and Family
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Marriage and Family
Child Abuse – the majority of victims are children under the age
of six
 The most common form of child abuse is neglect
 Other forms of child abuse are emotional and physical abuse
Spousal Abuse – more men than women are the perpetrators of
spousal abuse
 Women stay in abusive relationships for various reasons
including: lack of resources, fear of retaliation, salvation ethnic,
blaming themselves
 Police response to abuse has changed in recent years
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Marriage and Family
Studies of couples that have been married for 50 years
indicate that there are several reasons for lasting
happiness:
1. Thinking of their spouse as their best friend
2. They laugh together
3. They share the same goals
4. Think of marriage as being sacred
5. Think of marriage as a long-term commitment
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Marriage and Family